What To Do?

(Adam looking resigned in the car)







I think that after years of breathing carbon monoxide and suffering high blood pressure, KLites have finally gotten used to traffic jams and accepted them as a way of life in this city. How did I come by this conclusion? Well, I was stuck in traffic for 2 hours last evening going from Ulu Klang to the KLPAC. A journey which normally in rush hour traffic would have taken me 45 minutes. Max. The reason, according to those LCD signboards, was a tree that had fallen over somewhere in Jalan Pahang which backed up traffic all over the city centre. For all of those 2 hours I sat in traffic I didn't hear a single horn blast, not a single "Niamah!" from any of the long-faced drivers on their way home to a cold dinner or to KLPAC for a rehearsal. As usual, inconsiderate drivers cut lanes, blocked exits, parked in yellow boxes. But none elicited any protest from the rest of the drivers silently suffering in their overheating vehicles.
When I was in front of the exit of the Renaissance Hotel a taxi and a Proton Perdana decided to cut into the lane going towards Jalan Sultan Ismail. Never mind that anyone could see that the lane was at a standstill and had been for more than 10 minutes. They decided that they would pull into the flow anyway and wait for the traffic to move. It didn't seem to disturb them at all that their action would mean that their vehicles would be parked inside the yellow box and that this would obstruct traffic streaming into Jalan Ampang from the opposite direction. So now there was grid lock in both directions. They sat there in the yellow box for almost 15 minutes while busses, trucks and cars and cap cai's manouvered their way around them.

And for the whole time this was going on all the gridlocked drivers just sat and watched. Silently. Without any visible signs of protest. Finally, after 15 minutes both vehicles decided that it was futile and reversed back into the hotel driveway. Presumably to find another way of exit. Or maybe to partake of the happy hours at the hotel bars.

Well, I guess this proves that some courtesy campaign directed at Malaysian drivers is bearing positive results. Yay! Malaysia Boleh.